Sneaky Ticket for Valentine's
by monsieurdunbar
Summary: Odd decides to spice up the group's usual boring Valentine's by snagging a few tickets for a Subdigitals gig. With half the group unable to go, William, Odd and Aelita decide to sneak out of Kadic, however an unexpected event (by the name of Jim) causes William and Aelita to end up going on their own. A small corny joke leads to something new between the pair. William/Aelita


"Ah, Valentine's Day," Odd skipped to his friends, an airy tone in his voice.

"Saint Valentin," he stepped around the bench on his tiptoes flailing his arms.

"San _Valentino," _he murmured deeply towards the group with seducing eyes.

"Barentainde," he called out, moving his eyebrows towards Yumi who tried to hold her laughter in.

"Such a day, a wonderful day, and all you lot can do is sit around," he ran behind Jeremié and smacked his shoulders, "you especially, Einstein,"

Jeremié groaned, but smiled nonetheless. It was the same every year on Valentine's Day. There would be (playful) tension between Ulrich, Yumi and William, sneaky glances between Jeremié and Aelita, and Odd scolding his friends for being so 'boring'. In the end, the gang would end up giving each other friendly Valentine poems either on scraps of paper or verbally. X.A.N.A also seemed to give the kids a break on this day each year: Odd assumed it was because X.A.N.A had other female viruses to court with a pixel rose.

"Come on, guys. This year we have to do something cool, something worth the holiday,"

"Odd, you don't even have a girlfriend-"

"-and you do?" Odd smirked at Ulrich's sunken reaction to which the group chuckled at.

"Maybe we could bake something for each other this year?" Aelita piped in.

Everyone except Ulrich and Aelita shared a painful glance.

"Only if you're the one cooking for everyone," Yumi muttered embarrassingly.

"What if all of us go to that hang out spot near Kadic?" William suggested.

"Only Yumi would be able to go! We're not allowed to leave the grounds yet!" Ulrich cried out, earning William's hands flying up in surrender.

Odd picked up the school paper next to Jeremié and began skimming through as the others argued and suggested different things they could do. Until he saw a small but grand article.

_Subdigitals are in town! Gigs all over France from 8__th__ February to the 18__th__ with a Valentine's Day special on the 14__th__! Order your tickets online!_

_That's it, _Odd exclaimed. He slammed the paper on the table causing the others to quieten down.

"We're going to see the Subdigitals!"

They all stared at him with wide eyes, about to bombard him with why's and how's, until Jeremié looked at the paper Odd slammed down, reading the article between his fingers.

"Odd, the tickets for the Valentine's Day special must have been the first sold out. How are you going to acquire them anyway?"

Odd opened his mouth to counter him but then realized Jeremié was right.

"I... well, look!" he pointed at them one by one, "I'll figure this out. I'll make this the best Valentine's for you all. As long as one of you end up being satisfied, _I'll_ be satisfied," he crossed his arms with a huff.

Jeremié shook his head and turned back to his laptop while the others went back to their conversations that they had before Odd came along. Seeing as he was not being taken seriously, he stomped off around the school in search of someone he could bribe. Little did he know, this would be easier than he thought.

* * *

"I will not allow you, or any child on this campus to leave the grounds for a concert late into the dangerous nights. All students must be in their dorms by 10pm and ready for school the next day."

Principal Delmas stacked all the tickets he received from the other kids at the school into his drawer and looked sternly at his daughter, Sissi, who was pouting angrily.

"It's _Valentine's Day, _daddy! This is completely unfair!" she stormed out of her father's office, bumping into Odd who was waiting by the door.

"Oof- oh. What do _you_ want? You're not getting your ticket back if that's what you're here for," she stormed out of the building completely, leaving Odd behind.

"Oh but that's exactly what I'm here for," Odd grinned to himself.

He knocked on the principal's door and let himself in after his call.

"Yes Della Robbia? What can I do for you?"

"Uh, I just, I wanted to tell you... uhh, that..." he looked around trying to find something to help speed his thoughts up.

He saw the small woods through the window behind the principal.

"That's right! Someone got injured in the woods, the nurse told me to call for you. Need all the help they can get, you see," he raised his brows hopefully.

"Oh dear, an injury? On a day like this, too? I must see what I can do," he got up and stormed out of his office, leaving it vulnerable towards Odd's clutches.

As soon as he left, Odd rummaged through shelves and bags and drawers, until-

"Bingo!"

* * *

"Where's Odd?" Jeremié looked to everyone in his room exasperatedly.

"Serenading girl number two hundred and seven by now," William smirked, earning a playful punch from Yumi.

As Aelita sat up, the door slammed open.

"Never fear, for Odd is here, and I am here to relieve from your depressing Valentine's day," he handed the tickets out to the group, watching the disbelief in their faces.

"How did you get these, Odd?" Aelita asked, grinning wildly as she stood up, fondling the ticket to see if it was real or not.

"I have my sources, don't you worry your heads, my good friends," Odd pocketed his hands with a triumphant smile.

Jeremié looked at his ticket then handed it to Odd.

"I can't take it. I'm really busy and it's a school night anyhow. Sorry, but you guys should go and have fun," he leaned against his desk.

"Oh come on Jeremié, live a little," Yumi grinned.

Jeremié shook his head and Odd sunk his head.

"I really worked for this ticket, Einstein. Almost cost me my life," he threw his hands up in the air in defeat.

"I'm really sorry, Odd. Give it to some girl you want to take with you or something,"

"Yeah, Odd, I really want to go but I can't afford to get in trouble again," Ulrich stated with his head down.

"Oh come on, you guys!" Odd looked to each of their faces, "Well who else?!"

Yumi slowly handed her ticket out towards him.

"Hiroki and I were planning on doing something special for our parents. You know how they are and this will be important for them..."

"It's fine, you guys don't need to explain yourself," Odd sighed, taking in her ticket too.

He trudged up to William, "I assume you're not going either?"

"I'm actually fine with going. I'm allowed to leave campus and I've been wanting to go to a real Subdigitals gig for a long time,"

"Amen," Odd turned to Aelita, "I guess you don't want to get in trouble either?"

Aelita smiled a bit too innocently, "It has been a while since I've seen them... I have a good behaviour record..."

Odd's grin grew wider as she went on and he cut her off with one of his arms around her shoulders and another around William.

"I knew I could have faith in you guys!"

* * *

"Okay, since Aelita and I are technically not allowed to leave campus at this time, here's the plan,"

Odd, Aelita and William were crouched behind the pillars next to the door to the dorms. It was dark and the air was quite chilly so they huddled together.

"Jim will no doubt be patrolling the grounds as usual, but do not fret, he can't be everywhere at once. He'll start making his way towards the woods in a few moments and that's when we'll take the front gate," Odd motioned towards the large gates.

"How are we supposed to cross _that_? Those gates are huge!" William hissed.

"Foot in hand technique. I'm sure you've seen it in movies,"

"_In movies,_"

"Oh come on, have a sense of adventure,"

"William's right, Odd. We'll get caught,"

They sat in quiet thought, thinking of another plan.

"Well we can't take the gate through the woods. We won't make it in time. The front gate is the only way,"

Aelita and William shared a look, then back at Odd.

"If only we could have a distraction of sorts," Odd mused, "We get could Ulrich to help us?"

"I think he made it pretty clear he doesn't want to get in trouble," William laughed.

"How about we get a closer look? Who knows, we could figure out something better there with a closer visual," Aelita suggested.

The boys agreed and the three set off towards the front gate as soon as Jim was out of sight. At the gate they saw small bars almost halfway up the gate which they immediately knew they could use to climb.

"What did I say?" Aelita grinned.

"Well, what are we waiting for-"

"Hey! You! Stop right there!"

The three stopped and dreaded that very voice. They turned and found the gym teacher running their way and waving a fist.

"Go, go, go!" Odd cried out.

William knelt and positioned his hands into a dig for Aelita. She set her foot down and he pushed her up onto the bars. She then managed to crawl her way over and safely down on the other side.

"Odd, come on, let's go!" William yelled.

Odd stayed where he was. He looked at William knelt beside him and Aelita on the other side then back at Jim.

"Look, he can barely tell who we are. I'll lead him away and... just go, don't waste the ticket!" and he bolted away, trying to flatten his hair while doing so to hide his trait pointy do'.

William shook himself out of his confused trance and began climbing the gate as quick as he could. Aelita helped him up as he jumped down almost too quick and they bolted away, too.

"I can't believe he did that! I hope he doesn't get caught," Aelita mused.

"I hope so too," he glanced at her, "well, I guess _then there were two_, huh?"

She giggled as they ran until they reached a turn where they could freely walk. Strolling down the brightly lit streets, they stayed in a quite uncomfortable silence. Aelita never talked so much with William and vice versa. But even so they weren't so close, they felt close. In fact, William felt like he could tell her anything, but he assumed it was because they were through similar situations of sorts.

"Hey, so, Subdigitals huh?" William tried, "wonder what they'll play today..."

"I hope they do 'Surfing in Cyberspace', it's one of my favourites," she glanced at him, "what about yours?"

"I'm more of a 'Break Away' fan, but all of them are great," he grinned, "hey, that reminds me!"

Aelita perked up.

"You were an opening act for them one time, right? That was so cool, you were fantastic! D'you think they'll pick you out from the crowd?" he laughed as she blushed lightly at the compliments.

"I don't think they'll be that desperate,"

"Well, you were amazing. You really deserved to win that competition," he chuckled at her shy 'thank you'.

They reached the gig gathering and they presented their tickets. They would enjoy this, if not for themselves, then for Odd.

* * *

Full of adrenaline and tiredness at the same time, William and Aelita laughed all the way back to Kadic. They recalled all their favourite moments of the gig and they sang their favourite songs, almost looking like drunks on their way home. They had a blast of a time, you would say, and they hoped that was good enough for Odd to hear when they got back. They decided to take the back entrance and went through the woods as they were more likely to not get caught – it was almost one in the morning, Jim wouldn't even be patrolling anymore anyway.

Aelita got a sudden cold rush and it made her giggle. She kept on changing from rubbing at her bare arms to get warm, to putting her hands in her skirt pockets and wriggling her fingers. William didn't notice until he felt the rush against his own arm.

"Here you go. You should've told me if you were cold," he placed his brown jacket then his arm around her shoulders.

Aelita almost declined but she started to feel a lot warmer and comfortable that it slipped her mind. As they reached the gate, she slipped her arms into the jacket and William laughed.

"I've never really seen it except for movies, you know," he grabbed her icy nose playfully.

Squinting, she replied, "seen what?"

"Red noses," he smirked and she playfully hit him on the arm. Which was cold. Very cold.

She slung her jacket covered arm around William's bare arm and they walked the rest of the woods that way. Once they reached the back of the science block, they began being wary for any teachers that may be lurking. Seeing no one, they moved towards the dorm building. They entered silently, shutting the large doors ever so softly behind them, knowing Jim would be in his room by now. They walked up, still holding each other to get warm, and William insisted on escorting Aelita to her room, which Aelita commented how Ulrich was right: "You really are a swanky,"

She opened the door and turned around to face William.

"Today was absolutely amazing. I have to give it for Odd, he really made this a great Valentine's Day," she smiled.

"And it was a pleasure to share it with you," he grinned in return, earning a playful blush.

"So I guess I don't get a goodnight kiss?" he asked jokingly, and was about to apologize and say goodnight as he saw Aelita bit her lips uncomfortably, however he was cut off from doing so.

Aelita placed one hand on his shoulder and stepped on her tiptoes, leaning in to peck him quickly. They stared at each other with wide eyes and began looking anywhere but each other.

"I- I wasn't actually expecting you to..."

"I... I'm sorry, I-"

With a shy curling up of the lips, William leaned down and gave her a quick chaste kiss. Feeling her eyelashes flutter against his cheeks, he slowly let go. They watched each other for a brief moment.

"Well," William cleared his throat, still blushing, "Goodnight, Aelita,"

Still shocked, she was unable to answer, but instead gave him a shy nod, her cheeks rosy – not from the cold. He walked off down the hallway and she closed the door to her room behind her. She placed her hand against her stomach which was extremely giddy from the previous scene. She couldn't stop smiling. As she began to calm down and think about it over and over again, she realized she was still wearing William's jacket.


End file.
